Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City and Garmin Partner to Bring Better Health to Kansas City Companies

KANSAS CITY, MO. (February 3, 2016) — Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City (Blue KC) and Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd., have teamed up locally to encourage healthy behavior with the Garmin vívofit2 daily activity tracker and promote the expansion of Blue KC's health and wellness program, A Healthier You™.

Previously only available to large group customers A Healthier You is now available to all Blue KC members, including small groups and individual customers.

Wellness programs, such as A Healthier You, have become commonplace for businesses, especially large companies, for good reason. According to the 2010 Harvard Wellness Program Study, "a properly designed wellness program can expect to yield $3.27 for every dollar on healthcare cost reductions."

"It is clear, based on national statistics, as well as results from our existing AHY platform, that wellness program participants tend to have lower healthcare costs in the long run, probably because they are more aware of their personal health needs. We feel like it is our responsibility to offer that to all Blue KC members, not only to keep the cost of healthcare down, but to make us healthier as a population," said Dr. Gregg Laiben, Blue KC Medical Director.

More than 7,000 Garmin devices have been sent to the human resources directors and/or the executive contacts at all Blue KC small and large groups to draw attention to the need for health and wellness and to generate interest in the new A Healthier You.

"We're excited to partner with Blue KC on this strategic initiative. The vívofit2 touts a year-long battery and can be worn in the shower, keeping the focus on moving instead of remembering to grab it off the nightstand," said Allison Swelin, Manager, Health & Wellness Sales and Marketing for Garmin. "The distinctive red Move Bar gently reminds employees when they've been inactive too long, an important reminder throughout the day."

The vívofits are also driving traffic to the new and enhanced A Healthier You member portal that now supports device integration, making it easier for participants to track their healthy behaviors.

Angie Chatfield, Director of Human Resources for Suburban Lawn and Garden, has received her vívofit and is using it. "It was easy to set it up and easy to log onto the system." Chatfield added that the new health and wellness program is going to be great for her employees who are already active but may not have an integrated way to track their activity.

Blue KC groups that would like to buy vívofits for their employees can take advantage of a discounted price when they order 25 or more devices from Garmin using a special reference code provided by Blue KC.

In addition to now offering AHY to all Blue KC members, Blue KC has also added innovative new tools aimed to help educate customers and empower them to take action to improve their health and enhance the physician/patient relationship. The core components currently available on the AHY platform, such as a personal health risk assessment, self-directed coaching, self-management tools, and onsite-screenings will remain and be augmented by new features:

About Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City
Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, the largest not-for-profit health insurer in Missouri and the only not-for-profit commercial health insurer in Kansas City, has been part of the Kansas City community since 1938. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City provides health coverage services to more than one million residents in the greater Kansas City area, including Johnson and Wyandotte counties in Kansas and 30 counties in Northwest Missouri. Our mission: to use our role as the area's leading health insurer to provide affordable access to health care and to improve the health of our members. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. For more information on the company, visit its website at BlueKC.com.